A canine addition to the family

After my epic Christmas preparations (I didn't even mention that we hosted that year, with 10 of us staying for 3 nights), I was a bit tired from all that crafting, and then we decided to  'gift' ourselves a puppy that following January. Sydney arrived in our family at the end of January 2012 and I thought I knew what we were in for. I had definitely underestimated the impact on our life!

Who would have thought such a small animal - one that fitted in a cat basket for his first set of innoculations - would cause such trouble!

Looking back, I can actually barely remember what my problem was. Yes, he peed on the floor - he was a puppy in toilet training.  Yes, he whined at night when he was locked in the kitchen alone. And then bashed the kitchen door when he woke in the morning at 5am - not necessarily needing the toilet, but feeling lonely, awake and wanting company. We resolved that by letting him sleep with us instead and finally we got a full nights sleep again.   Yes, he wanted to play tug endlessly and the evenings were exhausting with all the attention he wanted. It took us a while to get the balance and timing of his walks right to counter the excess evening energy.

We were afraid of letting him off lead in case he never came back, and confused with the various advice about how to get his recall right or walk to heel or not jump up at people, so lack of consistency has probably meant he hasn't learnt these things as quickly or as well as he would have if we'd got it right from the start.

He still pulls on the lead a bit, although not as badly as he used to.  He still jumps up at anyone he meets who will let him (i.e. almost everyone, as they all want to say hello too and catch his paws and he comes to meet them).  His recall when there is nothing else around is great, but rubbish if there is another dog that wants to play.   He doesn't have a bad bone in his body, but he doesn't have enough fear - he just charges on in - and he is a big boy.

He is a pedigree English Pointer, a breed we chose because they are friendly, large and energetic - but in theory, more trainable than a Boxer dog which is Greg's favourite breed.   And he is adorable.  We're still going to dog training every week, but we're getting there and he is a much better behaved dog now, at nearly 2 years old, and we have a routine that works for us.

But that's why crafts took a back seat for a few months.

Christmas motivation

The things that really got me motivated to get on with my crafts was feeling that I couldn't afford to do the amount of shopping and consumery that goes into a normal Christmas. It usually costs me around £1000 to buy presents for the numerous family and friends at Christmas, as I don't think I go overboard with them or that I buy for many people that I could cut out.  It's just expensive. Oh, and have I mentioned that I hate shopping. I really wasn't in the mood to trawl around the same old same old high street feeling utterly uninspired about what to buy for people.

So in September 2011, I began making presents for them instead.  These included  knitted hats and toys, sewn iPad and Kindle cases and jewellery rolls, homemade Dundee cake, shortbread biscuits and flavoured vodka.

Knitted hats were mainly from the Boyfriend Hat pattern on Ravelry, although I advise that you add another inch or so in length as the pattern comes up a bit short in my view.

I had to teach myself to knit in the round for these and the for the toys, and discovered it wasn't anywhere near as hard as I thought it would be. I'm quite handy with DPN's or a circular needle these days!

I made hats for my brother, sister in law, nephew and friend's daughter, in various colours and types of wool. My favourite was the red one which was made with a felting wool, but I really should have noted how I had adjusted the pattern as it was a thick wool and would have come out too big to wear if I hadn't made some changes along the way.

Toys were from Rebecca Danger monster patterns and are super cute.   I really enjoyed making these, so much so that I've gone on to make more for the children who got a hat that Christmas, so now they have all had a toy as well. And an elephant for my dad, who has a love of all things elephantine.








Sammie the sock monster was made twice for two little boys, and the parents confirmed that they were both loved immediately on opening on Christmas day, especially as they could remove their socks and put them back on again.










I love Jerry the monkey and his super long limbs, and Esther the elephant was for a friend's daughter.  I always feel that children - especially those of my friends and family who are all 'comfortably well off' families - get plenty of commercial toys, so getting something a little different from me would be a break from the norm and not a massive disappointment. I loved the toys my gran made for me as a child, and still have one of them. I wish I had more, but just don't know what happened to them all.


On the food side, we had had a crop of green tomatoes so I made some tasty chutney and put this together with Dundee cake, honey from my neighbour's bees and vodka flavoured with fruit from our garden.

The Dundee cake was Delia's recipe, but cut down by a third as I made small ones (and missing out the candied peel, as I don't like it!).  I knew my parents liked Dundee cake, so it was made especially for them, but each of the adults got a food pack, with varying amounts of biscuits to go around the relevant children!

Biscuits were a BBC Good Food recipe but made with my own shape and decorations,  and the vodka, well, that's just trial and error too. Hic!

In fact, we have a second batch still brewing in the cupboard. Raspberry or Blackcurrant vodka in iced lemonade is just lush on a hot summers day.






I made a number of sewn items too. iPad and Kindle cases for my dad, friend's dad and my neice, and jewellery rolls for my mum and mother in law, both who travel quite a lot.


I didn't follow any specific pattern for these, but browsed a number of different blogs to get ideas about how to make them.  The Kindle and iPad cases have batting which was actually the lining of an old sleeping bag, but provided enough quilting to make them a secure housing for precious devices.



You may have noticed that I also tried to package the items nicely.  Greg knew what I was doing and he bought me a fancy label printer for my birthday (which is just before Christmas) so that I could make some really nice labels to attach to the toys and gifts, and I bought nice jars and bottles from a catering shop, tissue paper and ribbon, and smart cake boxes to make sure the Dundee cakes didn't get squashed.   I hope this made the gifts that little bit extra special when they were received.

I never did price up whether doing things this way was any cheaper than if I had spent my usual budget in the shops, but I had a lot more fun doing it, that's for sure.   But I maybe won't be doing it every year...

2 years to make a jumper?

For readers in the US, a jumper in the UK is the equivalent of a pullover/sweater.

One of the first projects that I bought the materials for was a jumper, way back in spring 2011.  I was limited in choice as the day I wanted to start, I had to find a knitting shop in one of the local small towns. I wanted to make it NOW! And I didn't want to drive very far to get my yarn! Ledbury is a lovely quaint town nearby, and I found it had a part-craft, part-old lady clothes shop with a limited selection of patterns and yarn.  The photo on the pattern made the style look young and smart, so I thought I would try it, although they didn't have the right shade of green in stock, so I took a similar one.

Well, it was ever so slightly more complicated that I thought, but when I finally got used to the repeat pattern, I was on a roll and was looking forward to the finished product.

But it took me over 2 years to finish as first of all, I went off knitting in the summer months, and when winter 2011 arrived I decided to make Christmas presents for everyone instead of going shopping! I hate shopping. And I had no money left after moving house.  After that, we got a puppy - and if you've ever had a puppy you'll know that for the first 6 months, you don't have any hobbies apart from cleaning up, worrying about, playing with and training that dog. And he would have stolen the wool anyway. 

Enough of the excuses.  I picked it up again in winter 2012 and finally finished it in February 2013 only to find it was too small - and looked better inside out than the right way.

So, if it had fitted me (or, to be honest anyone I know), I think it would be OK - but it doesn't, so it is in my charity bag now, waiting for the next trip to the charity shop. 

But I console myself that I learn some valuable lessons along the way.  (1) measure myself before making clothing and (2) test my tension.  I had done neither for this project.   I've also learnt to make up the seams in a different way since doing this - now using mattress stitch - so in future my seams won't be quite so bulky!

(and secretly, I didn't like the colour in the end - the green was a bit insipid).

You win some, you lose some.

Where it all began

I've decided to start a blog after a good few years of making things as recently it has become more of an obsession, and I am craving the opportunity to do more and more.  So, I felt that talking about it and sharing it with others might help me express this side of me.

I learnt to knit and sew as a teenager, taught by my mum and making a few dubious jumpers and slightly badly fitting dresses and skirts. I may not have been fast or accurate, but I enjoyed it a lot.   That all seemed to go by the wayside in my 20's and most of my 30's - University, marriage, divorce, career - they all got in the way.

But about 5 years ago a friend at work was looking for someone to teach her to knit, so we started a mini-knitting club during our lunchtimes and I re-learnt, and she and another colleague got started.     This re-ignited my craftiness just a touch - but I never did finish the scarf that I started.  I think the cat may have got hold of the wool and I had to throw it out!

The same friend then had a hen night that involved dressing as Jane Austen.  We could either make our own dress, or get a dressmaker to do it. Well, I wasn't going to pay someone else to do what I was capable of, so I dusted off my machine and made an ill fitting dress. I got away with it, I think.







But it was moving to Grand View in 2010 that seemed to really get me back in the swing.  So, my first few blog entries will re-cap what I've done since my fiancée and I moved here.

PS. I was post-chemo with hair just starting to grow back there. Rocking the skinhead look!

PPS. I meant to add, the Jane Austen dress pattern was from http://sensibility.com/. I'll share details of where I get patterns, ideas and recipes throughout this blog to give credit where it is due and share sources.